While tools do exist today which measure latency in a data network, such as a wireless data network, this functionality is not integrated into the set of services provided by wireless networks today. Furthermore these tools are used to measure latency at the equipment level, not at the user session level.
In wireless networks, a mobile station is connected to a radio access node via a wireless or radio frequency (RF) network. The radio access node is then connected to the data network (e.g., the Internet) typically via a wire-line network. The radio frequency network is frequently the most unreliable part of the end-to-end connection. Bad connections or a high volume of voice calls in the sector will affect the quality of data calls and thus increase latency. Thus, it is important for service providers to be able to measure wireless access latency at the user session level from the mobile station to the radio access node (i.e., the packet data serving node or PDSN).
Accounting information is generated for data calls, providing information such as the number of bytes transferred for a given data session and the session duration. However, currently nothing is generated which measures user experience on a per user, per session basis.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method for measuring and recording latency in a data network on a per user, per session basis.